misfortunes on the Spanish Main, [and] escalates from there to closing mega-thrills so determinedly spiced that your palate is left almost jaded." Jack Adrian says that "Tim Powers has further refertilized the Sabatini swashbuckler," and describes the novel as a skillful blend of "high seas adventure with sorcery and black magic." Influence on other works Books Kim Newman based the name of a vampire in his Anno Dracula series on the main character of On Stranger Tides. Video games Ron Gilbert has been widely quoted that the Monkey Island series of adventure games was inspired by Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean ride. However, he stated in a blog that the ride was mainly his inspiration for the ambience of the series, while his true inspiration was On Stranger Tides. Films Pirates of the Caribbean In 2007, after the successful opening weekend of the third Pirates of the Caribbean film, At World's End, Walt Disney Studios Chairman Dick Cook said he was interested in a fourth film. The Los Angeles Times also reported that Bruckheimer already had rights to a book that could end up as another installment, though had not confirmed what book it was. On September 11, 2009, Walt Disney Pictures announced that the fourth installment would be titled Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. The announcement had fueled speculation that the film would follow the plot of the novel. It was later revealed that while making the films, screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio found Tim Powers' novel and brought it up to producer Jerry Bruckheimer as an idea to option the book for the new chapter. In a 2011 interview, Tim Powers stated that Disney wanted the film rights as early as before the release of the second Pirates film, Dead Man's Chest, though he thought they already used elements beforehand with skeletal pirates replacing zombies from his book. In January 2010, Disney announced that the film would be released on May 20, 2011. Before the film began production, it was speculated that Jack Sparrow would replace Jack Shandy as the story's protagonist. Tim Powers stated that the Fountain of Youth would definitely be in the film because it was teased in At World's End, but also said that Sparrow and Shandy are "totally different characters", and that Hector Barbossa and Blackbeard might overlap. On March 22, 2010, Jerry Bruckheimer confirmed that both Barbossa and Blackbeard